Paul Cleveland heard the horn summoning junior golfers back to the clubhouse Sunday afternoon, minutes before a sky turned black and the tail of a small tornado swept down on the Black Stone Country Club course in Aurora on Sunday afternoon.
The cart lifted about a foot, then it slammed back to the course.
“It was terrifying,” said the 16-year-old Smoky Hill High School student. “I was surprised I didn’t have any wounds.”
Cleveland, another passenger and the cart driver were spared, but the caddy on back was thrown off. And although his head was under the cart and he was bleeding badly, he was conscious, Cleveland said.
The three quickly lifted the cart and someone arrived with a first-aid kit, he said.
The caddy’s name was not released, but he was the only injury from the frightening seconds at the course. He was in stable condition at a hospital, said Aurora Fire Capt. Diane Lord.
The twister also flipped a 10-foot-by-30-foot construction trailer on its roof at the course Sunday.
Tracy Cologne, the tournament director for the Rocky Mountain Junior Golf Tour, said 97 golfers were on the course, along with seven staff members armed with air horns to signal if there was trouble.
“Our job is to keep them safe,” she said. “And when we saw the black cloud, we decided to call (off) the tournament.”
Lightning struck a tree and caused an injury to a person near East Iliff Avenue and South Buckley Road, authorities said.
Wind, thousands of lightning strikes and quarter-sized hail pounded the eastern metro area between 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
A line of thunderstorms developed over the Front Range, as a cold upper-level system moved across the Rockies from Utah. The storms were moving east at 30 mph at 3 p.m., posing a risk for bad weather on the Eastern Plains late Sunday afternoon.
The system caused seven tornado warnings in different parts of the state Sunday, including a tornado that touched down in Park County at about 11:15, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin.
No injuries were reported.
A Park County law enforcement agent told the weather service that the tornado damaged a roof but caused no injuries.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Joeybunch
